Reply #72: Although I understand that the focus of this OP is the unity...

[puebloknot]

...humans had for each other in our national suffering on 9/11, I think that the idea that America came together as one on 9/11 and in the weeks and months that followed has been exploited ad nauseum to justify acts of betrayal on the part of our unelected government.

On that day, I was avoiding my "Joe Sixpack" neighbor who was planting American flags all over my neighborhood, and who was practically orgasmic over the opportunity presented by 9/11 to go to war and "get 'em."

And on that day, I was having tea with my new Iranian neighbors who rushed to display "United We Stand" signs in their front windows and on their car. They asked me to accompany them to the grocery store because they felt an American presence might make them safer when they had to leave the "safety" of their home.

September 11 was a deeply emotional day for me. Three nights before its occurrence, I had a compelling dream in which terrorists had surrounded my house, which was right next to a huge towering mountain. That we are "all one" in our deepest knowing is signified by the fact that hundreds of people reported similar dreams, and all of us have questioned the futility of receiving such "altered state" intelligence, with no ability to make any difference.

I thankfully did not have immediate family members in harm's way on that day, although the husband of a distant cousin was killed in one of the towers. I have turned over in my mind, again and again, what that kind of agony must have been like, and as long as I live, I will never be able to cleanse my mind of the vision of a man falling, head first, from one of the Tower buildings.

Also, on that day, as I watched the planes slamming into the Trade Center, I was unable to avoid remembering that this event was taking place very, very shortly after the nation had suffered the outrage of a trumped up and illegal impeachment of a legally-elected sitting President, a fraudulent election, and the installation of a soon-to-be dictator by a rogue Supreme Court. I knew in my gut that day that there was something not kosher about the show I was watching on the television.

My unity that day *was* with the suffering people of my country who lost their lives, or were terribly injured, and with their loved ones. But I was never willing or able to lose my skepticism over the "United We Stand" clarion call which became something of an expected part of safe public discourse, and which furnished cover for the war in Iraq. I kept remembering that intelligent and compassionate people *are* able to hold two conflicting feelings or ideas at the same time.

Even on the most sacred occasions, when we review our losses and shed our tears, it's important to keep our national wits about us! September 11, 2001, has become much more than one day. It is a symbol for our suffering and dying democratic republic. Hope springs eternal, and I devote a lot of time to consideration about which way the pendulum is going to swing, and try to keep hope alive.

This was meant as a short comment, but the words kept coming. Apologies for my verbosity.